The drive from Grand Junction to Moab was just over 100 miles. It was nice to have a shorter drive and be able to get settled in to Slickrock Campground in time to do some exploring. We arrived at the beginning of Moab’s tourist season and there is major road construction on the main road into and through town, so getting to our park and around town wasn’t easy.

Of course, we did manage to get into town to try a few restaurants. We really enjoyed the pasta at Pasta Jay’s where Candi got Chicken Pomodora and Mike got the Jumbo Shells, which were both excellent.

We also found a sports bar to watch the Ravens vs the Texans game. It was fun to watch at The Alley Sports Pub and Grill, especially since the Ravens won! While we were sitting at the bar we were joined by another Ravens fan. As we were talking, we found out Jacob is from Pikesville, our hometown neighborhood! Even more amazing, the next day we went back to Arches National Park to scope out a sight for some night sky photography and ran into him again!!

Oddly, of all the strange vehicles we’ve seen, who woulda thought … the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile was in the park! Don’t YOU wish you were an Oscar Mayer Weiner! (Come on, don’t tell us you’re not sitting there humming their jingle too!)

Speaking of night sky photography, although Mike’s never really been into night sky work, he decided to give it a try and wound up with a few really great shots!

(click to enlarge the photos)

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Thanks to a travel blog we read, we decided to take a drive from Moab out State Route 128. The route starts about a half mile from the park we were staying at and runs along the Colorado River between some beautiful cliffs. It was interesting to see how the little river we saw at Rocky Mountain National Park turned into this powerful waterway!

We stopped at the Red Cliff’s lodge and had a mediocre lunch, which was okay because our real reason for stopping there was to visit the Moab Museum of Film. The museum is free so we felt better buying lunch there to help support the lodge and the museum was interesting and actually larger and nicer than we expected. There have been a lot of movies filmed in the area, including Thelma and Louise! Driving along the canyon made it easy to remember the final scene.

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Two nice parks with great views. Unfortunately for us, the timeframe we were there was during major forest fires in Colorado. The smoke from there was significant. It was still a beautiful view from several locations though.

Beautiful National Park with great views and rock formations, including some amazing arches! Most of them are viewable from the main park road, with better views if you want to do a little hiking.

Park Avenue is the first large viewing area from the entrance. The view here is amazing, especially since you have no idea what the rest of the park looks like!

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The next noteworthy formation is The Three Gossips.

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From there it was onward to Balanced Rock. There is an easy walking trail that takes you around the rock so you can see it from every angle.

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To us, the Double Arch is the prettiest of the arches and is an easy walk.

From the same parking area you can see the North and South Windows and Turret Arch. The hike to them is slightly longer, but also easy.

On the drive in and out to the North, South, and Turret Arch is the Garden of Eden.

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The Delicate Arch is more difficult to get to. We chose to hike to the Upper Viewpoint, which is listed as moderately difficult. The trail is rocky and steep and, in our opinion, not worth it!! Had to sit down and take a break!

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Mike in front of the Fiery Furnace.

The Sand Dune Arch is an easy walk, but it’s mostly on sand. (We love beaches, but sand is HARD to walk on).

From here it is an easy walk to Broken Arch, even though the walk is much longer than it looks!

Finally, Skyline Arch is about a one mile hike. We were pretty beat at this point and chose to look at it from afar.

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On the way out we stopped for a shot of The Organ.

And just for kicks, an interesting view with a fisheye lens at Broken Arch.

Incredible drive to the top of the largest flat top mountain in the world. The Grand Mesa boasts over 300 lakes at an altitude of 11,000 feet. We enjoyed a hike in the woods along a few of the beautiful ponds.

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Stunning canyons and rock formations on the first leg of our journey to Mesa, AZ.

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After getting caught in the snow in Denver, we knew it was time to get out of town and start heading to our winter position! There are so many things we can’t do right now because of COVID, but National Parks are open and since there are 5 major ones in Utah we decided to get to Arizona by way of Utah.

Our first stop was in Grand Junction, Colorado, about a five hour drive from Denver. This route took us west on Route 70 and through the Eisenhower Tunnel, one of the highest vehicular tunnels in the world! It goes through the Continental Divide at 11,158 feet! We have to admit we were a little nervous about pulling our rig up the incline to the tunnel, and even more nervous about getting down the other side.

Fortunately, the Beast (our Ford F350) did a great job pulling the trailer up the incline, and, thanks to the disk brakes on our trailer, we made it down with no issues.

The rest of the drive was beautiful and we made it to Grand Junction in time to settle in at the Grand Junction KOA where we would be staying for a few days. This isn’t a park we would want to stay at for any length of time, but for a few days it was fine, and the location is perfect for exploring the area.

Grand Junction is a cute town with a lot of shops and restaurants on Main Street. Fortunately, most of the restaurants had outside dining and the weather was beautiful while we were there.

One of the highlights was breakfast at the Dream Cafe. Mike got the Banana Bread French Toast which was to die for. And Candi got the best Eggs Benedict she’s ever had (it’s making her rethink her own recipe for Hollandaise Sauce!).

Another highlight in town was Bella and Balsamic Olive Oil and Vinegar shop. Their Garlic Infused Olive Oil is some the garliciest we’ve had (we love garlic!), and we also picked up a couple of really good Balsamic Vinegars.

Of course, the main reason we were here was to see the Colorado National Monument and Grand Mesa.

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If you know us at all, you probably know that we hate winter! So how is it that, after being in the Denver area for the hottest summer in 20 years, we are also here for the earliest snowfall in 20 years?!?!?

On Sunday the high was 101, Monday the high was 93, and by Tuesday it was in the 30s with snow!! When we went full time one of our goals was to never see another snowflake again – oh well, we made it a year and a half! Don’t feel too bad for us, though, this weekend the highs are supposed to be in the 70s with lots of sunshine, and the snow gave us an excuse to stay inside and make coffee drinks!!

Oh, and remember the original view from our front door? That was then, this is now!

One place we knew we had to visit while we were in Colorado was the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was about a 2 hour drive from Denver and was definitely worth the trip! We entered the park on the Estes Park side and drove Trail Ridge Road which winds up the mountains and through the park. It is about 48 miles from one end to the other and reaches an elevation of 12,183 feet! There are many spots to pull off and admire the view along the way. With so many stops it took us about 4 hours to drive it.

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Some panoramic views (click to enlarge)

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One detrimental thing about the time we went was the sad situation much of the West is facing with forest fires. When we were there one in Colorado called the Cameron Peak Fire was literally on the other side of the mountains and was definitely obscuring our view at many points.

We exited the park on the Grand Lake side and right before you leave is what remains of the Never Summer Ranch, also known as the Holzwarth Historic Site. What really interested us we walked around the site was seeing the beginnings of the Colorado River.

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By the time we left the park we were ready for dinner! Luckily, Grand Lake is not far from where we left the park. There are a lot of restaurants there, but when we saw one called One Love Rum Kitchen we knew we had to eat there; with the words Love and Rum in the name, it had to be good, right?!? And it was! We got the spicy Margaritas which were excellent, and some of the best fish tacos we have ever had! Although the weather had been beautiful all day, it did rain while we were eating, which was okay since we were under cover. And then we were treated to an amazing double rainbow!!!

We drove through Nebraska on our way back to Denver from Mount Rushmore and stopped at this quirky roadside attraction. We don’t know what made anyone think to recreate Stone Henge with cars, but it was interesting! We wouldn’t suggesting going too far out of your way to visit it, but if you find yourself near Alliance, Nebraska, it’s worth a stop!

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